The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-03-02
farm 9otes.
SHEEP FOR SMALL FARMERS.

III 0TCdU JULIUS
not be. made by farmers who 40
everything in the great wholesale
wav. No animal requires better
a + and closer attention than the
sheep. Even with these it is diff
cult to keep large numbers together
and have them do we'll. The small
farmer can keep a few, give them
the best care, and by growing and
selling early lambs make more
money per head than the large
sheep grower "a with his extensive
focks.
PROTECTING MANURE FROM WATER.
1t is, Of course, important that
MANURE should not be wasted by
washing away, but the covering 1T
so as to prevent any water from
coming on it would, in most cases,
do more harm than good. 1t is
difficult to keep while heat
ing from parting with it's ammonia
which is held in solution by water.
If it burns or "fre fangs," as it is
popularity called, the damage is
greater than would result from the
average rain fall in u climate.
Water in barnyards is generally in
excess only when the supply from
barn roofs is turned into it, instead
of being carried into cisterns as it
should be.
FEEDING COWS.
Charles H. Hayes Of Portsmouth,
n. H., who reports best five cows
average 1866 quarts Of milk, or
within a fraction of ten quarts per
day for the year, from his Ayrshire
head, and 1868 quarts as best ten
COWS average, equal to 8 5 16 quarts
per day during the year, feeds his
COWS as follows: During the Sum-
mer, pasture of inferior character;
but the COWS have each night and
morning one-half bushel Of brewers
grains and two to four quarts Of
shorts, and in the Fall corn, fodder
in addition; and in the Winter
three-quarters bushel of grains, four
quarts of shorts, one quart of cotton
seed meal and roots occasionally
dry corn fodder, one feed, hay two
feeds, each day. The cattle com
mence their morning meal at 6:30
in Winter and continue feeding two
hours. They are watered at ten
o'clock, and at $50 P. M. commence
their evening feed. They continue
to eat for two hours and the barn is
closed up for the night. Mr.. Hayes
considers one COW raised on the
farm to be worth any two common
ows that a be bought. No man
who keeps COWS can afford to ne
gIect the weighing of milk. He will
meet with surprises every month,
and before the year is out he will
be feeding COWS for the butcher
which he supposed were among the
best mixers, and in five years his
herd will be worth, for practical
purposes, more than those herds
which are not fed and MIXED under
standingly.
HOW Asst HOGS INCREASE.
One reason why the price Of
pork varies so rapidly in response to
a full corn crop is because no kind
Of farm stock can be multiplied 50
often as the hog. A good breeding
SOW of mature age can be bred three
times within a year, and at the end
of the first twelve months the SOW
pigs of the first litter may be and
usually are set to breeding. Allow
ing eight pigs to a litter, which is
a fair number for a good SOW, the
original one will have increased to
twenty-five at the end of the first
year. Young sows will not give so
many pigs, but by the time the first
litter drop their young, the second
litter Of sows will be ready to breed
and there may be another litter of
pigs from the original parent of the
entire stock. If the SOW ever grows
too old to breed nobody has learned
how old that is, though they com
monty become ugly or miscellaneous
after they are three or four years Of
age. 1t is evident that with plenty
Of feed, and Winter mild enough not
to interfere with breeding, there is
scarcely any limit to the increase
which may soon be made from hogs,
provided the price of pork shows
any profit in the business. We are
less in danger of permanent scarcity
of pork products than any other
kind of meat. If it were not for